Day 50: Broken Needles, Broken Dreams

Ok, so maybe that title’s a little melodramatic. But you try breaking one of your interchangeable needles right before the end of a project with no possible replacement, and see if you don’t feel like being dramatic.

So long story short, yes, I broke the needle for my sweater.

But let me tell you the long version.

Yesterday, Michael and I hosted a party. A football watching party, for the biggest rivalry game of the year in the state, Michigan State University versus University of Michigan. It would be somewhat more dramatic and entertaining to say that my needles got broken during a particularly heated bit of cheering as our team scored, or during a bit of banter with the guests that were supporting the opposite team as me.

But alas, it’s not nearly so interesting.

I brought my knitting out when things seemed to settle down, after everyone got here and got snacks and drinks and such. I thought I’d be able to sit and watch the game and knit, like I usually do when Michael and I have the game on.

I was wrong.

I ended up maybe knitting half a row at a time, before I would have to stop and get up to do something or get something. Such is the way for a hostess. I only managed to get two rows done total, and then I set my knitting down one more fateful time, on the floor near my chair. And then as I stood up, I stepped on the needle.

I heard the snap when it happened, and I had a moment of horror, but I was quickly distracted, and didn’t have time to check on it right away. But when I finished up whatever I’d gotten up to do, I picked up my knitting, and sure enough, the needle had snapped cleanly, right where the needle meets the metal for the interchangeable join.

If I’d been smart, I would have pulled out a smaller project. But I wanted so desperately to do work on this sweater, I was so close, I thought that if I worked on it during the party, I could get it done by the end of the weekend!

Instead, not only did I make almost no progress on Saturday, but now I can’t do any knitting at all on Sunday, and probably not on Monday either.

My replacement needle, which I ordered on Amazon, should hopefully be here on Monday, but it certainly won’t be here before I leave for work. And it may even take longer, depending on whether or not the shipping company experiences any delays.

One of the worst parts of this, is that I had to suffer mostly in silence for the rest of the party. No one at the party was a knitter, so even when I mentioned that I’d broken a needle on a nearly-finished project, nobody properly understood the gravity of the situation.

I did post a picture of the carnage on Instagram, where I was met with plenty of sympathy from like-minded knitters, so at least that helped.

Lesson learned, though. I think it’s in the same vein as the tortoise and the hare; I was in a rush to get something done, and now it’s going to take me even longer than anticipated.

Don’t you hate it when such childhood lessons are proven correct in adulthood?